New horizons for regional South Island

A new fund has been announced this morning to help regional
South Island tourism
operators capture the tsunami of opportunities from the growing
China market.

The 'New Horizons Fund' is a regional economic development
programme initiated by
Christchurch Airport, as part of the "South" initiative, which
sees all 15 South Island regional tourism organisations working
collaboratively in tourist markets.

The programme kicks off with a budget of $100,000 and aims to
support a minimum of
two South Island tourism operators into the China market each
year.

The airport's Chief Commercial Officer - Aeronautical, Justin
Watson, says The 'New
Horizons Fund' is a natural extension of the regional development
work "South" has been doing through its 'China Ready'
workshops.

"The aim is to grow the capabilities within the regions of the
South Island, both helping local operators into this key market and
building local capability to enhance the visitor experience for our
Chinese visitors," he says.

"The programme will improve our product offering over time and
will expand the economic benefits from this growth, beyond the main
centres and into the regions. It will grow regional and seasonal
spread across the South Island.

"We want to develop short and medium term business opportunities
outside the high
traffic tourism areas of the South Island and to ensure all
regions derive economic benefit from China, so over the coming
years we want to see increasing numbers of Chinese visitors
reaching those places."

Mr Watson says applications for interested operators will open
in July. The fund's support includes such areas as translating
marketing material into Chinese, website, social media and signage,
plus taking the operator on a 'Kia Ora South' trade mission to
China.

"We've developed a lot of experience and expertise over the
years we've been operating
in China and we want to use this to help lift others into this
market.

"The complete support package for the successful operators will
also include the chance to operate with and be guided by Swallow
Wang, our Shanghai-based Director of Sales. Swallow's connections
and reputation in China are invaluable to us and to South Island
tourism operators and she has worked extensively with many of them
over recent years to help them develop their footprint in
China."

Further details and application information will be available in
coming weeks.